Book picks similar to
Embrace the Darkness by Ashley N. Rostek
mafia
reverse-harem
dark
rh
When Heroes Fall
Giana Darling - 2021
A disappointment to my family. Haunted by my childhood traumas. I felt so much all my life that I resolved to feeling nothing at all. Until I met my match. As the most infamous mafioso of the 21st century, Dante Salvatore was madly passionate, unequivocally bad, and entirely too dangerous to know. He was everything I abhorred, yet I found myself representing him in the biggest criminal trial of the decade. I was so focused on winning and achieving the success I deserved that I didn't notice the gorgeous black-eyed man's effect on me until it was too late. My icy heart had been held too close to his flame and now I wouldn't let Dante go down without fighting with everything I had in me. Even if the cost of a new life with him meant the loss of my old life and everything I thought I held dear.
Resurrection
Siobhan Davis - 2020
The night I met Saint, Galen, Caz, and Theo. Those manipulative a-holes set out to ruin me after our hot night together, but they didn’t realize you can’t destroy something that’s already broken. And it only works if the victim cares. Which I don’t. Because I’ve been in hell for years, and nothing penetrates the steel walls I’ve erected.Until The Sainthood decides I belong to them and cracks appear in my veneer. Their cruel games, harsh words, and rough touch awakens something inside me, and now, I’m in trouble.They draw me deeper into their dangerous world, until I’m in the middle of all the violence and gang warfare, tangled up in all the secrets and lies, and there’s no turning back.Because they own me. And nothing has ever felt so right.I’m exactly where I should be.But with enemies on all sides, survival becomes a deadly game with no guarantees.And, sometimes, saints become sinners.Due to mature content, this book is recommended to readers aged eighteen and over. This is a full-length reverse harem dark romance novel with enemies-to-lovers/bullying themes. Cannot be read as a standalone and ends with a cliffhanger. Book 1 of 3.
Monster
Jessica Gadziala - 2015
And all was going to plan until one night, a huge mammoth of a man breaks into her apartment and kidnaps her,holding her hostage for the very man she was bent on bringing down.Breaker has one rule: he doesn't deal in women. But when he's conned into a job for the city's most ruthlesscrime lord, he finds himself in charge of a fiery-temperedhacker who he can't seem to keep his hands off of. When passions ignite and feelings emerge, will Breaker beable to reconcile his loyalties before it is too late or will their shaky foundation of trust start crumbling beneaththeir feet?This is a stand alone with a HEA.* For possible triggers, go here: http://www.jessicagadziala.com/trigge... *
By Sin I Rise: Part One
Cora Reilly - 2021
Raised by his uncle, the president of the Tartarus MC, Maddox is destined to follow in his footsteps. Now their chapter is on the rise again, but for their ultimate triumph they need to destroy the Vitiello empire. And what better way to do it than to steal the spoilt Vitiello princess and break her piece by piece until her father begs for mercy.Known as the spoilt princess of New York, Marcella Vitiello grew up in a golden cage. If your father is the most feared man in New York, people gift you with reverence.Destined to marry the boyfriend approved by her father, Marcella is sick of being treated like an untouchable porcelain doll. She resents the life forced upon her by her family until everything she took for granted is ripped from her. Where she’s now, her name doesn’t bring awe, only pain and humiliation.If you’ve grown up in a high castle, the fall is all the deeper. Sins of the fathers have a way of catching up…who’s going to bleed for them?
The Reaper Incarnate
C.A. Rene - 2021
The Reaper is hot on your tail,What have you done?You’ve made it onto her list,Who did you hurt?The hunt is just the beginning,How far can you run?Your soul is hers to reap,Where can you hide?Watch out for her scythe,Why do you cry?The life of a vigilante is meant to be a lonely one,Roaming darkened streets and collecting secrets.Until the four of them forced their way into mine,Stirring up feelings I didn’t know I had.But if they try to fuck with my plans,My pretty knife will be through their throats and my bloody scythe on their foreheads.
The Risk
S.T. Abby - 2016
Collecting the debts that are owed to me.Ten years ago, they took from me. They left me for dead.They should have made sure I stayed dead.Now I'm taking from them.One name at a time.I've trained for too long.I've been patient.I can't stop now.Revenge is best served cold...They never see me coming, until I paint their walls red.Logan doesn't know how they hurt me. He doesn't know about the screams they ignored. He doesn't know how twisted that town really is.He just knows people are dying.He doesn't know he's in love with their killer.No one suspects a dead girl.And Logan doesn't suspect the girl in his bed.They're looking for a monster.Not a girl who loves red.Not a girl in love.I'm a faceless nightmare.At least until I tell them the story they've pretended never happened.But in the end, will Logan choose them? Or will we watch them burn together?**Graphic**Adult language**Some triggers could be too much for the easily disturbed reader**Sexual content**Fucked up moral compass; read at your own risk.
Rival
A.J. Macey - 2019
You might know me as The Cat, famous cat burglar/thief. No? Well, let me give you a little insight into my life as of late. I was going about, minding my own damn business when the mob boss who runs most of the Reno underground sent an assassin after me. Crazy, yeah? Anyway, six months later the previously mentioned assassin is now my partner in crime when we get a job from the local motorcycle club, The Aces. All good and dandy, right? Wrong. They’re 1%ers, all three officers unbelievably attractive. Oh, yeah, the Vice President of the MC? That’s my asshole step-brother and let’s not even get started on the club’s suspicious Enforcer or the President who’s dripping in sexual swagger. With four sexy as f*ck men at my back, can I get the job done or will our explosive personalities cause us to be at each other’s throats? Oh, damn! Almost forgot in the thought of all the ruggedly attractive men, muscles, and tattoos that the rival MC, The Alloy Kings, are moving in and seem intent to take me down with the Aces. F*cking bastards. But I’m not the thief who became famous at 15 years old and survived the mob’s hell in my past just to lay down and take that, they won’t know what hit them. I’m The Cat, and soon enough, they’ll learn that I’ve got claws. The Aces Series is a WhyChoose/Reverse Harem trilogy featuring MFMMM meaning the female main character doesn't have to choose between her love interests. This book contains references involving PTSD, sexual assault recollections, abuse, and other themes that some readers may find triggering.
Dynasty
Sheridan Anne - 2021
Fearless. Destructive. They’re everything a girl shouldn’t want. Too bad this foster girl never had a daddy to chase away the monsters because I’m a sucker for a bad boy … or four.
Carver, King, Cruz, and Grayson—the Kings of Ravenwood Heights.
When I was forced to come here, I was expecting just another run-down town to add to the ever-growing list of unwanted homes. What I wasn’t expecting was them. They’re dangerous and they're keeping one hell of a secret—a secret that's going to change it all.Boys of Winter is a Dark, Enemies to Lovers, Reverse Harem Romance. It contains explicit sexual content, detailed violence, and coarse language.
Wolf
Penelope Black - 2020
So when she invites me to stay with her for the summer, I don't hesitate.And I make a new summer plan: skip the vacation, take online courses, and dig up dirt on Mom's new fiancé.What I didn't plan for was Wolf Fitzgerald--and his brothers. Dangerously good-looking with tattoos and bad attitudes.And my new stepbrothers.
Canary
Tijan - 2021
Names didn’t exist.I joined anyway. I had no other choice because they took my sister.Join. Find her. Try and make it out alive.Then he won me in a poker game.I hated him instantly, thinking he was like my other bosses before him.He wasn’t. He was worse.He wasn’t just cold. He was dead inside.It didn’t matter that he was gorgeous.He was the most lethal thing I’d ever met.He was also the only person who could keep me alive, if he didn’t kill me himself.A/N This is a 102k mafia/cartel standalone.This is the most violent book Tijan has ever written.Trigger warning: references to sexual violence“Canaries sing to save lives. I sing and people die.”
Crow
A. Zavarelli - 2016
A missing friend. Two loyalties, ripping me apart. I had a plan. Get in, get my information, and get out. Easy, right?Turns out, infiltrating the Irish mafia isn’t exactly what I thought it would be. I just wanted a soldier. Someone I could flirt with to get me in the door. That’s when Lachlan Crow noticed me. Problem was, he wasn’t a soldier. No, he was next in line for the throne of the Irish underworld. And he was determined to hate me from the outset. My sob story about needing a job? Yeah, he wasn’t buying that either. Too bad for him, I won’t let anyone get in the way of my mission. Who cares if we have some kind of crazy chemistry? He’s the worst kind of wrong- and I would never in a million years be with a guy like him. Because they took her from me, and I’m going to make them pay.
Borden
R.J. Lewis - 2015
After a crime-filled upbringing in a very harsh neighbourhood, Borden leaves his hometown, returning four years later mysteriously rich and unrecognizable, with one woman on his mind. A woman he'll never have. Pained by his devastating loss and filled with rage and guilt, Borden's world turns dark. * As a fiercely independent woman, Emma Warne knows all about hard living. Having kept to herself most of her life, the last thing she expects is to be thrust into the world of infamous criminal Marcus Borden, the dangerous man the entire city fears and loathes. But the more she pushes him away, the more he comes back, taking over her life and stripping her of her control she desperately clings to. Once Borden has his sights on her, Emma is going nowhere anytime soon, and what she doesn't expect least of all... is that she may not want to either. Book 1 of 2. ******* WARNING: This is NOT a love triangle. This book contains sexual situations - of a very rough nature - violence, and strong language that may be offensive to some.*******
Red Handed
Kate King - 2021
Name your price.”At twenty-three, you would think I could say no to being traded to the enemy, but that’s not how life works when you grow up in an organized crime family. I consider myself lucky to have grown up at all.Ten years ago, my brother was murdered in the gang war that split the city of St. Adrian down the middle. My family took the South Side, and the North Side went to them. The Gentlemen.Now the leader of the Gentlemen is asking for my help and my father has been nice enough to agree to his terms. In exchange for my sister’s protection, I need to cross the divide and live with the family that killed my brother.Too bad I’ve never been great at playing nice.Nico, Beck and Rush are the enemy. The leaders of the Gentlemen. They’re conceited, lying, murderous assholes and they’re the reason I’ve been trained all my life to cheat, steal, and shoot my way to the top.I’m ready to take them down from the inside. I just hope they don’t get to me first. After all, a truce between two enemies is a promise waiting to be broken.Red Handed is an enemies to lovers contemporary mafia romance where the female main character will end up with multiple love interests by the end of the series. All the characters are in their mid-twenties. There are dark themes and graphic violence, but no bullying or violence toward the main character. This is book one of three.
Pretty Little Savage
Lucy Smoke - 2020
1: Don’t piss off the Sick BoysThey’re cruel. Reckless. Impossibly fucked up.The Sick Boys feed on the order they create. They rule Eastpoint University just as their families have for decades. But their power doesn’t stop there. The three of them are heirs to some of the largest fortunes in the world, and behind that kind of wealth lies an underworld of corruption.On the surface, they’re perfect princes and he is their King. But underneath it all, they’re filled with blood, lies, and secrets. With all of their connections, they have the power to crush anyone who gets in their way. But just because they’re as warped as I am doesn’t mean I’m going to give them a free pass.Because I, Avalon Manning, bow to no one, and I live to break the fucking rules.***This is a Dark MF New Adult Enemies to Lovers Romance.***
Freestyle
Bea Paige - 2020
Dance is in my blood.It’s what keeps me sane, out of trouble. It used to keep them out of trouble too. A group of boys I grew up with.Xeno, York, Zayn and Dax.We were a crew once and we ruled the clubs.Separate we were insanely good, together we were unbeatable. F*&ing on fire. I was their girl and they were my Breakers.Until they did something they promised they never would; break my heart.We were sixteen when they left me.You see, for kids like us, dance was all we had.Growing up in a rundown housing estate in London with no prospects can make you view the world differently.It can make you choose the wrong path.I chose dance, and they chose crime.Three years later I’ve won a scholarship to Stardom Academy. I try to forget my past.But how can I do that when the four boys who hurt me are back?And this time they won’t walk away even when I ask them too.Freestyle is book one of this new gritty, contemporary reverse harem academy trilogy for 17+ readers and deals with adult themes and some subjects you may find upsetting. If you love dance, your men on the criminal side, alpha hot holes and the enemies-to-lovers trope, this is for you. Contains foul language and sexual scenes.